JAMES SLACK: How can the police chief who sanctioned a Tory MP's arrest be the best man to restore the Met's independence?

Sir IAN Blair strangled the Metropolitan police with politically correct dogma, while allowing civil war to break out among his most senior staff.

The force was crippled by racial discrimination lawsuits and - most gravely of all - became an unashamed cheerleader for New Labour.

His departure - forced by the London Mayor Boris Johnson, who declared he had no faith in Sir Ian's Commissionership within days of tasking charge of the Metropolitan Police Authority - therefore provided the perfect opportunity to wipe the slate clean.

Hired: Sir Paul Stephenson

Yet, flying in the face of received wisdom, Jacqui Smith and Mr Johnson himself have opted against appointing a new broom, instead plumping for Sir Ian's 'loyal deputy', Sir Paul Stephenson.

To many - including some still seething Tory MPs - this decision will be puzzling, bewildering and hugely disappointing.

Yes, it was Sir Ian who presided over the politicisation of the Met - lobbying for the detention of terror suspects for 90 days without charge and ID cards, and even allowing police Range Rovers to carry 'Vote Labour' slogans during the 2005 General Election.

But the most political (and, to Tory backbenchers, unforgivable) act of recent years came on Sir Paul's watch, after he assumed effective control from the lame duck Sir Ian: the arrest of the shadow immigration minister Damian Green.

To widespread astonishment, Sir Paul allowed his officers - led by the country's most senior terrorism officer, Bob Quick - to subject Mr Green and his family to terrifying and grossly intrusive searches.

Mr Green was arrested, and is still on bail. His alleged crime? Embarrassing the Government, by leaking to the Press internal Home Office documents which pointed to rank Ministerial incompetence.

The impression was of a police force determined to protect the Government of the day at all costs, rather than uphold the law.

How, therefore, can the man ultimately responsible for sanctioning these raids be the candidate best suited to restoring the independence of the Met? He can't, is the instinctive answer.

But, ironically, it would appear that the Green affair actually strengthened his position in the eyes of the Home Secretary. He allowed the raids against Mr Green to take place because that was what his deputies wanted and, instead of interfering in their operational independence, said OK.

Then, when the raids backfired disastrously, he stood by his men. That, apparently, impressed Miss Smith.

Sir Paul was assisted, meanwhile, by the honest actions of what transpired to be his only real rival for the job, Northern Ireland police chief Sir Hugh Orde.

When the debate over the Government's plans to extend the length of time which terror suspects could be held without trial was raging last year, Sir Hugh was asked if he supported the idea. He said, categorically, that he did. This, sources suggest, infuriated Mr Johnson's most senior staff, who viewed it as a political act. In the reckoning, it counted against Sir Hugh.

There was no disagreement between the mayor and the Home Secretary over who should get the job. As Mr Johnson said, in his own characteristic way: 'I want to stress this was a matter of almost glutinous cross-party consensus.'

So here we are. Sir Paul ,while the controversy over his appointment will no doubt continue, is in post, and faced with a hell of a job.

He must end the feuding among the Met's high command, and cool the simmering resentment caused by a string of race discrimination lawsuits.

The obsessions with political correctness - Sir Ian once asked his staff to say if they were gay, in order to set quotas for homosexual staff - must stop, and the Met must be allowed to get back to old fashioned policing.

The cosying up to New Labour, or any other party, must become a thing of the past.

Today, Sir Paul gave his broadest hint he recognises all of this. He said: 'Ian Blair did it his way. I was his loyal deputy. I am now going to do it my way.'

Let's hope 'his way' is so different from his former boss as to be unrecognisable.

Otherwise, Sir Paul - and the Met - has yet more tough times ahead.

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JAMES SLACK: How can the police chief who sanctioned a Tory MP's arrest be the best man to restore the Met's independence?